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Sobey Art Award Announces Shortlist

The Sobey Art Award is Canada’s highest award for contemporary Canadian art and was created in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation. On June 1, the jurors announced their shortlist of five artists for 2016: William Robinson (Halifax), Jeremy Shaw (Vancouver / Berlin), Brenda Draney (Edmonton), Charles Stankievech (Toronto), and Hajra Waheed (Montreal).

After a continued and extensive jury process, the winner of the award will be announced in November and they will receive a $50,000 prize. The other finalists each also receive $10,000.

The most recent edition of Canadian Art Magazine features a good article that offers interesting insight into the work of these artists as well as the jury process. You can also discover more about these artists from the National Gallery’s website which in addition, features quotes from the jurors.

Earlier this year, the Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada announced a new partnership in which the Gallery will become the organizing institution for the Sobey Art Award. This new relationship will evolve from the success created by the award’s original founding partner institution, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Although they indicated that the structure of the Award will remain relatively the same, the presentation of the works of art from shortlisted artists will alternate between the National Gallery and institutions across Canada.

Since its inception, the Sobey Art Award has profiled 300 Canadian artists and has become an honour which has steered artists toward national and international recognition. Some past award recipients include: Brian Jungen, Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Annie Pootoogook, Michel de Broin, Tim Lee, David Altmejd, Daniel Barrow, Daniel Young & Christian Giroux, Raphaëlle de Groot, Duane Linklater, and Nadia Myre. The 2015 Sobey Art Award winner was Abbas Akhavan.